"Gary" > wrote in message ...
> dsi1 wrote:
>>
>> I didn't care much for the kids with their gun crazy child's
>> play - that can't be good.
>
> I so disagree there. Young boys do seem to have a more
> aggressive side than young girls. When I was a young lad,
> we all loved playing "Army" for several years. It was fun
> to do. And good exercise too.
>
> For Christmas presents we got realistic toy guns, hand grenades,
> uniforms, etc. Best presents were authentic surplus store
> things left over from WW2 and Korean War, like real helmets,
> canteens, utility belts. (I still have mine).
>
> The old WW2 movies and shows like Combat were fun to
> watch.
>
> IMO, it let us get out the aggressivness while we were young
> and doing it in a safe manner. Child war games.
>
> Then the hippy generation grew up and became parents and
> discouraged their kids from doing all that. Tried to
> turn them into peace-loving citizens from the beginning.
> Wouldn't allow them to play "Army."
>
> Big fail, imo. Not long after, all those young boys got
> a little older and started buying real guns and shooting
> each other for real.

My first present as a baby was a realistic looking toy gun. I kept it around
for some years but usually let the boys play with it. In those days, they
played cowboys and Indians or Army. Sometimes pirate. Lots of faux weapons.

One family on our street had what they called a tree house. It was more like
an elevated playhouse but it was quite large. There was a built in ladder on
one side and a slide on the other. We sometimes camped in there and it could
easily hold 12 kids in sleeping bags.

We used to play Swiss Family Robinson. I was always the mom because I was
the oldest. The boys had makeshift weapons (usually fern roots or rocks)
that they would throw off the porch. We girls made the meals which were not
well balanced and oddly creative. They involved whatever we could pick from
our various gardens or sneak from our houses. Our moms were not very
generous when it came to giving us food to play with.

Angela never had a toy gun until the year I found some dead stock cap guns
from my era, online. I bought several. The other parents were less than
thrilled that I allowed their kids to play with them. So we resorted to
using a rock or a hammer to pop the caps. That's what we usually did when I
was a kid because it was quicker and easier than loading the guns. They were
fine with the caps. Just not the guns.